MHA # 2 | Sunday Evening

[knife_bender]

The whole family dinner thing had not been Diego's idea. In fact he made it abundantly clear that he thought it would be a disaster. But it was three against one, so Diego ordered a couple pizzas and invited Five and his abomination over to eat with them.

This was the weirdest goddamn weekend.

[For Hargreeves and Hargreeves adjacent]

Comments

[defenderofdesmoines]

"See, that's kind of sad. That'll help me feel sorry for him through the creepiness," Annie decided, latching onto that.

[knife_bender]

"You haven't seen him yet," Diego said again. "Just wait. It might be too much even for you."

[knife_lights]

"What might?" Autumn asked as she wandered in, but it was clearly rhetorical since she also immediately followed it up with, "Is Uncle Five going to get here soon, before we all starve?"

[knife_lights]

Ben followed into the kitchen after his sister, looking casual but keeping quiet. It was all part of a two step plan to get buzzed before dinner.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I'm sure he'll be here soon, and you're not going to starve," Annie replied evenly, paying much less attention than she should to the drink she'd poured. "Maybe if you guys set the table, it'd give you something to do while you wait?"

For like thirty seconds. Again, it was pizza, the kids kind of had a point.

[knife_bender]

"Yeah, and don't drop any of my expensive plates," he said, pointing at the paper plates on the counter.

[knife_lights]

Autumn rolled her eyes exaggeratedly before glancing at the plates. "I mean, sure, I can put those plates on the table in a second. But I wanted to see if you guys wanted to see a picture of your old selves. I have one on my phone of, like, the whole family."

That was a great distraction, right? Even if Autumn had no intention of actually producing such a picture. Um, paradox much? No thank you.

[knife_lights]

Oooh that was a good play, Autumn. No way they would be able to resist seeing Dad with long hair.

He slide up behind the conversation, slowly reaching for the glass on the counter.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I mean." Oooh, tempting. Annie really kind of did not want to see her old self, but she did want to see Diego (with the long hair and the beard!) "We probably shouldn't, right?"

But what was the harm in looking? And admittedly, she was already trying to peek at Autumn's screen as she pulled her phone out.

[knife_bender]

"Yeah, won't it cause some kind of paradox?" Where was Five to explain this?

[knife_lights]

"Pff." Autumn waved a hand, not really answering that question. It totally would create a paradox, probably, but also, like, she didn't want to outright lie to her dad? "Oh, here's a bunch of pictures of my friend's dog. I took like a hundred the one day we hung out."

So they'd have to scroll through those for awhile in order to find this mysterious family photo, of course.

[knife_lights]

And there went Ben, casually leaving towards the living room with a margarita in his hand. Mission: Accomplished.

Maybe.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Like, impressive, children. Annie was distracted enough by cute dog pictures and impending paradox-inducing ones that she almost didn't notice her margarita wandering off.

Almost.

"Wait one second, there, Ben," she called, pushing Autumn's phone aside. "Nice try."

[knife_bender]

"That was a nice try," Diego said. "I think we would have noticed if you were drunk at the dinner table though."

[knife_lights]

"Who gets drunk off of half a margarita?" Autumn asked, before very swiftly adding, "I mean, I've heard that's not a lot."

From adult people.

[knife_lights]

"Smooth," Ben said under his breath.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"That is a very cute dog," Annie informed Autumn, taking her drink back. "Wasn't cute enough. And you probably shouldn't show us that picture."

Or maybe there'd never even been a picture at all!

[knife_bender]

"Agreed," he said. "Only to avoid your mom seeing me with long hair and actually liking it."

[knife_lights]

"Gross," Autumn declared cheerfully. "But like, spoilers, think she probably does."

She made a face to offset this revelation.

[knife_lights]

Ben's grossed out face looked remarkably like his sister's. "Ugh, gross."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I'm having trouble picturing it," Annie said, both truthfully and diplomatically, "but I think that just means that maybe I'll get to be surprised someday."

Or that her version of Diego would just have short hair forever, and she was fine with that, too.